Unemployment decreased 10,900 to 727,500. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 2,600 to 515,000 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 8,400 to 212,500.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 0.3 million hours to 1,645.2 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE

Release Date

January 2016

18 February 2016

February 2016

17 March 2016

March 2016

14 April 2016

April 2016

19 May 2016

May 2016

16 June 2016

June 2016

14 July 2016

WHAT'S NEW IN THE LABOUR FORCE

For details regarding an update to the Labour Force Survey questionnaire, the regular update to the seasonal adjustment process, the change to release timing and a minor revision to underemployment data, refer to the "What's new in the Labour Force" on page 8.

ROUNDING

Estimates of changes shown on the front cover and used in the commentary have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movement obtained from the rounded estimates. The graphs on the front cover also depict unrounded estimates.

SAMPLING ERROR

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Published estimates and movements are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability. The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. There is a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN NOVEMBER 2015 AND DECEMBER 2015

Monthly change

95% Confidence interval

Total Employment

-1 000

-59 600

to

57 600

Total Unemployment

-10 900

-47 700

to

25 900

Unemployment rate

-0.1 pts

-0.5 pts

to

0.3 pts

Participation rate

-0.1 pts

-0.5 pts

to

0.3 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, email client.services@abs.gov.au or contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.